Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 238 (1854).- Type: Peter 34622, Tanzania, Ngulu (iso- W); Schimper 1214, Ethiopia, Gapta (iso- K,M,P,W).
Trichopteryx arundinacea A. Rich., Tent. Fl. Abyss. 2: 417 (1851);
Loudetia eriopoda C.E.Hubbard, Kew Bull. 1934: 433 (1934).- Type: Tessmann 2728, Cameroun, Assum (holo- K);
Trichopteryx convoluta De Wild., Notes Fl. Katanga 5: 25 (1920).- Type: Vanderyst 3326, DRC (syn- BR);
Trichopteryx dobbelaerei De Wild., Notes Fl. Katanga 5: 28 (1920).- Type: Dobbelaere 13, DRC, Katanga (holo- BR, iso- BM);
Trichopteryx verticillate De Wild., Notes Fl. Katanga 5: 38 (1920).- Type: Vanderyst 303, DRC (syn- BR).
Regional litterature: FTA 10: 20 (1937); Fl. Gabon 5: 260, tab. 43 (I960); FWTA: 417 (1972); Gr. Togo: 246 (1983); FTEA: 417 (1982); Gram. Togo: 246(1983); Fl. Zambesiaca 10, 3: 218 (1989); Gram. Cameroun: 375, fig. 81 (1992); Fl. Bénin: 215 (2006); Poac. CI: 242, fig. (1995); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 288, fig (1995); Fl. Guinée: 464 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 95 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 136 (2015).
Description:
* Coarse densely tufted erect perennial bunchgrass, 0.5-3 m high. Culms simple, the nodes usually conspicuously bearded. Leaves sometimes deflexed from the culm, 20 -70 cm or more long and 3-15 mm wide, flat or tending to roll inwards, glabrous or hairy, slightly scabrid margins, the base passing directly into the sheath; ligule short membranous and fringed with stiffly ascending short white hairs; sheath glabrous to hairy, the basal ones usually covered with fine short silky hairs, glaucous. Roots coarse but sparse.
* Inflorescence a large open delicate spreading golden-brown panicle 20-70 cm long; primary branches drooping, whorled at most nodes, the spikelets borne in loose pairs at their tips.
* Spikelets lanceolate, 6-13 mm long, glabrous or pubescent; callus 0.5-1 mm long, pubescent and truncate. Glumes chartaceous, dark brown, glabrous, or setose with tubercle-based hairs; lower glume ovate, 3-7 mm long, obtuse; upper glume lanceolate, truncate. Lower lemma similar to upper glume, lanceolate, 6-13 mm long, truncate; upper lemma oblong, 4-7 mm long, coriaceous, pubescent, tip 2-fid with acute triangular lobes and geniculate awn 2-4 cm long from the sinus, with twisted column.
Distribution West Africa: Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, South Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: Gabon, Congo, DRC, Ethiopia, Uganda and C, E and southern Africa, Ethiopia.